


Trade Mistakes

by NovaStars42



Series: The Kids Aren't Alright [4]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Humanstuck, Hurt/Comfort, Marijuana, Oneshot, Recreational Drug Use, Shopping Trip, Stress, Teen Pregnancy, Unplanned Pregnancy, Walmart, Weed Brownies, juvenile delinquent, less than perfect parent, parent child argument, troll-sona
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-04-16
Packaged: 2018-06-02 14:30:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6569959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NovaStars42/pseuds/NovaStars42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurloz has to face up to the mistake he and Meulin made. Responsibility is learned, not inherited.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trade Mistakes

“Got any twos?”

It took Meulin a couple seconds to register what he sister said before she groaned. “Nepeta, we’re playing poker!”

Nepeta giggled and closed her fist, her thumb up and moved it in a clockwise motion in front of her chest. It was the American Sign Language motion for ‘Sorry.’

“It’s okay,” Meulin huffed, grinning and ruffling her younger sister’s hair. She spoke a bit louder than needed, but I didn’t mind. She was deaf, she couldn’t hear herself.

“So wait, how do we play this again?” Nepeta asked, picking up an orange tabby cat that rubbed on her chair. Meulin wasn’t looking at her, so she was unable to read her lips.

'Never mind,’ I signed to her. I threw my cards down on the table, attracting Meulin’s attention.

“Kurloz! You're not supposed to just fold!” Meulin sighed, but then a look of excitement crossed her features, “and you had the best hand too!”

Meulin laid down her cards, and it was a mash of black and red. I didn’t even care to see which kinds of matches she had. I had a flush so it didn’t matter. Nepeta threw down her cards and laughed, confused, but happy.

I glanced over at the clock.

'I have to leave for just a minute,’ I signed, attracting the attention of both Leijon sisters.

Meulin looked confused.

'I thought we were going to look at furniture?’ She spoke, eyebrows furrowed.

I twisted my fingers to respond to her. 'I have to check on my brother.’

Meulin’s face twisted again, her expression changing back to excitement. 'Can I go?’

'I guess?’ I shrugged. 'If you want to.’

She nodded and stood up, going for her purse and shoes. I grunted and stood up, ruffling Nepeta’s hair. She didn’t mind. She was still fawning over the cat. Meulin booted another cat out of the way of the front door. I slipped on my shoes and followed her out. We strode down her driveway, followed the rounded curve of cul-de-sac three houses down.

My lawn needed mowed. My dad had told a Gamzee to do it but we all knew he wasn’t going to.

The front door was unlocked.

“Gamzee,” I called though the house, clearing my throat. My voice wasn’t the best to be yelling.

I didn’t hate it. I can’t do anything about it. Freak accidents where you server a major nerve in your tongue happen. It sucks. It makes you talk funny. There’s nothing I could do about it.

“My mother fuckin’ brother!” Gamzee shouted from the kitchen. I rolled my eyes and wondered what exactly I was walking in to.

I didn’t bother taking my shoes off as I walked inside.

“Hi Gamzee!” Meulin shouted, and I relayed the message when he returned her hello.

“What are you doing, you jumped up little shit?” I questioned, entering the kitchen.

“Brownies!” He replied, using a wooden spoon to stir a bowl of chocolate batter.

“Miracle Brownies, that is,” he grinned. I quirked an eyebrow. Miracle brownies was usually code for weed brownies. And by usually, I mean always. I wasn’t too worried about it. Weed wouldn’t hurt him. He was a pretty happy kid, wouldn’t hurt a fly… as long as he took his medicine.

“Did you take you pill?”

“Course I did, my mother fuckin’ bro!” He confirmed, “I’m all kinds of responsible. It’s bitchtits man, don’t be all up and worried.”

I went to the medicine cabinet anyway and checked. Sure enough, his pill was still inside its purple container. I turned around and shook it, attracting his attention.

“Shit,” he swore, looking a little sheepish under half lidded eyes. He must have zoned out and forgot or something stupid like that. I brought the pill to him and he swallowed it dry.

Meulin stuck her finger in the brownie batter before Gamzee added the hash oil. I grinned.

Meulin was taller than my brother, but just by a hair, and she wouldn't be for long. He grew like a weed in fertilizer and if he was anything like me, he’d end up around six foot.

“Hey, sis,” my brother grinned, offering her the spoon. “We got all kinds of miracles happening today.”

My girlfriend read his lips while she accepted the spoon. “How do you figure?”

“You’re all up and here,” he grinned. Meulin squealed and hugged him. I rolled my eyes. Sure, okay, schmooze my girlfriend.

I couldn’t blame him. Meulin was pretty awesome. Not to mention, she paid attention to him where no parent of ours ever had. When I was old enough to babysit Gamzee myself, my dad started leaving us home alone.

It taught me about entertaining myself. I found new hobbies, like hydroponic gardening. Dad tended looked the other way when it come to my weed. That was cool of him, I guess.

“Don’t burn the house down, okay?” I asked, nudging my brother.

“You got it.”

'Let's go,’ I signed to Meulin. She bid my brother goodbye and we left the house.

My car was parked in the driveway. It was a trash heap on wheels, like everybody else’s car my age. It ran though, so no complaints there.

“Walmart sound good?” Meulin asked, her voice projecting in the small space. I nodded because I needed my hands to drive. So it wasn’t a furniture store, but it was cheap and we were broke.

Walmart was ten minutes away, twelve with lights. Sitting at one of those lights, drumming my fingers on the wheel, I just happened to glance over. We had the windows rolled down since the AC quit, and a breeze blew by with the cars in the opposing lane. It ruffled Meulin’s hair just right and the sun shone off her skin. She was looking away from me, smiling and humming. I could hardly tear myself away when the light turned green.

I didn’t know what I did to deserve somebody so perfect. (I hoped it wasn’t the universe apologizing for the tongue though.) I had to be the luckiest guy on earth.

Then, all of a sudden I realized Something. I had to be the double luckiest guy on earth, because my gorgeous girlfriend was pregnant. It sunk in right there though, on a sunny, late June afternoon in a Walmart parking lot.

I grabbed a cart out of the corral nearby and Meulin pushed.

Walmart had a steady stream of people coming in and out twenty four hours a day. Somebody was always in every aisle. Usually, they got what they needed and left, but not us. We both gawked at the metal rack in front of us, staring at the top level where the furniture was displayed. I glanced down at the boxes containing the parts to put each item together. I tried in vein to match them up with the mislabeled prices.

'I don’t know where to start,’ Meulin signed, her face scrunched up in confusion.

Walmart had futon couches, particleboard shelving units and entertainment centers that weighed less than a stack of newspapers. They had plenty to choose from. I almost wished they had less.

'Me either,’ I signed back.

'This is hard,’ she signed and then huffed, 'or,’ she signed and then she paused, frowning.

'What?’ I asked.

She reached over and took ahold of my hand with the one she didn’t use to sign. 'or maybe it’s not hard, maybe we just don’t know what we’re doing.’

I gave her a reassuring smile and squeezed her hand. 'Let's just keep it simple.’

Futons run around three hundred bucks, and a coffee table was another thirty. We decided that was a good start. I grabbed the boxes and threw them in the cart and helped Meulin steer with a hand on the side. That’d clean us out until I sold a bunch more weed and Meulin got her neck paycheck.

We decided to grab a frozen pizza and a two liter of Faygo and head back to my house.

We were all set to have a quiet night at home until I turned the corner into the cul-de-sac. My dad’s was car in the driveway. The garage door was open, and the lawn mower was sitting out, and the grass had been cut. I parked on the street and we got out. Meulin got our bags. My old man was standing in the garage, lecturing my brother when we walked up.

“Now, the next time I tell you to mow the lawn, you’ll turn that shit music off, wipe the paint off your face and mow it! Are we clear?” He coughed without covering his mouth and fished a his smokes out of his back pocket.

“You look like a girl with that horseshit on anyway,” he added as an afterthought.

“Yes sir,” my brother droned. He’d probably got the ass chewing of a lifetime.

“Hi, Mr. Makara,” Meulin greeted cheerfully.

“Howdy,” my dad greeted, but immediately switched gears, brushing her off.

“Kurloz, did you get the dishes done?” He asked, a cigarette pinned between his lips.

“Yes sir,” I replied. He didn’t speak another word to me.

My brother followed us inside the house while my father stayed outside to smoke.

Once in the kitchen, Meulin read the directions on the pizza box out loud to me and I followed them. We had dinner in twenty minutes. Gamzee ate too, but he left right after. My dad sat back in the living room and watched a western in his armchair. I took Meulin down to my room in the basement.

I lay back on the bed and situated myself. Meulin crawled her way to me once I was comfortable. She laid her head on my arm and sighed, cuddling into my side with her hand she used to sign resting on my chest.

“I’m worried,” she said out loud. She was comfortable. She didn’t want to move her hands anymore.

“About what?” I asked. She watched carefully to read my lips.

“What if something goes wrong and I can’t hear the baby when it cries?”

Her defeated tone made my skin break out in goose bumps. It was so unlike her to get upset by things. Meulin was unshakable, nothing got her down.

“What if my condition that deafened me deafens our kid too?” She followed up, “I know there’s no use crying over spilled milk, but it makes me sad Kurloz. I barely remember my mom’s voice. I’ll never hear our baby.”

“We’ll teach our kid sign language. I hear they pick it up faster than words,” I smile, trying to reassure her.

The smile spreads to her face too. Suddenly she’s happy again, nothing is bothering her, just like usual.

“I remember your voice Kurloz. Is that fucked up? I remember you more than my mother?” She asked. Her upbeat tone did not match the beaten down persuasion on her words.

I shake my head no. No, it wasn’t fucked up. Then I realized something.

“That was before puberty,” I laughed and I know she could feel the vibrations in my chest. She giggled too. She smile widened.

“I think your hormones are getting the best of you,” I told her.

“I should get home, get some sleep,” she agreed. “I love you, Kurloz.”

'I love you too,’ I signed, nuzzling the top of her head with my nose.

She hopped off of my bed with more energy than she’d had all day and trotted upstairs. I saw her out, but I kept watching her until she got inside her house. She was less than a hundred feet from me, but I still worried.

“Kurloz, you use protection, don’t you?” My old man spoke up from his chair. I thought he was asleep. I froze.

The tv blared gunshots and cows bellowing. This was another, more violent western than what was on before. I’d seen this one before, it was from fifty-seven or something.

I hadn’t hold him Meulin was pregnant. Nobody knew but our closest friends. I swallowed thickly.

“Yeah,” I agreed, “didn’t do us no good though.”

It took a second for my words to sink in.

“Well shit,” he swore.

“I’m gonna take care of it,” I assured before he could even start.

“Your eighteen Kurloz! What the fuck are you gonna do?”

“ I got a lease on a trailer starting in August.” I cleared my throat but I didn’t continue speaking.

“What?” My dad raves, “you think your gonna pay for a house and a kid and a car hocking weed to high schoolers? Does she still work dead end at the goddamn mall?”

“I’m gonna get a real job,” I press. He’s having none of it.

“Your an idiot Kurloz! A mother fucking moron! Are you brain rotted?” He shouted. All I could do was stand and take it. “Jesus Christ! How stupid can you get?”

He continued screaming, but I couldn’t have given less of a shit. I stormed off, grabbing my car keys and the plate of weed brownies. I got in my car and left.

It wasn’t like I could call Meulin, she needed to rest, and Mituna had enough of his own problems.

I drove out to the only place I thought I felt good enough to go, the neighborhood playground. I had a lot of fond memories growing up there. It seemed like the most logical, safe place at the time. Nobody would come looking for me there. Sliding into the lot, I threw it in park without even putting my car into a designated spot.

Groaning, I threw my keys into my passenger seat and picked up one of the weed brownies. It was sweet, so sweet it hurt my teeth. I stared out my windshield as I chewed, watching the bugs swarm the dim streetlamp above me.

I knew telling my dad about the pregnancy was gonna be bad, in fact, I knew he would react that way. I don’t know what I expected.

My hands still shook from the excitement. I took a deep breath and waited to relax.

I fucked stuff up pretty bad. All my future plans went up in smoke. I wondered if I should fore go college all together. Maybe just go to trade school, be a heating and cooling guy or something. It would pay the bills, buy formula, I guess that’s all I needed.

I leaned my head back on the seat and put my hand over my eyes. I don’t know why I still held on to the notion this summer might still be fun.

A sudden tapping on my driver’s side window pulled be back to the world of the living. I jumped a foot.

Three people were standing next to my car, looming in the low lightly. I couldn’t see their faces. My mind rushed. I didn’t have anything to defend myself, I was gonna get the shit kicked out of me. I noticed right away they were on the short side. They were probably still kids. I couldn’t see their clothing, but I could see that two of them had these things stuck on top of their heads. Wait, were those horns? The tallest person standing in the middle waved at me and that gave it away. I rolled down my window.

“Gamzee?”

“Yeah! Hey bro!” My younger brother greeted. I heaved a sigh of relief.

“What the fuck are you doing out here?” I asked, “We’re like, twenty minutes from home, how’d you get out here?”

“We walked,” he said as I grabbed up my keys, put them in the ignition and turned on my lights. My brother was smiling, his face painted like a clown and a pair of multicolored, curved horns set on top of his head. A girl stood to his right, wearing a similar pair of horns and a sundress. A boy stood to his left, with suspenders and a bow tie over his T-shirt.

“You’ve just been wandering around for hours?” I asked.

“We just kinda been up and doin’ our own thing,” he grinned, “I want you to meet my friends! This is Callie and Caliborn. Guys, this is my big brother.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” the girl, Callie, said in a thick accent. I didn’t know where it was from.

“Hello,” Caliborn spoke with the same accent, a menacing grin set on his face.

“Hi,” I muttered, still taken aback. I wasn’t aware Gamzee had friends other than Karkat.

I glanced at the clock on my dashboard. It read two-thirty.

“Shit, it’s late,” I swore.

Gamzee ignored my statement in favor of his own. “Would you tell dad I’m staying the night with Caliborn? His mom said it was alright.”

“More like she’s not home to protest,” Caliborn added. I didn’t know about all that but it wasn’t like I was in a position to parent anyone.

“Yeah, er,” I mumbled, my eyebrows furrowing. “What’re you wearing?”

“Mother fuckin’ horns! For our troll-sonas! Callie helped me make 'em,” he pulled the smiling girl close to him.

“Your.. What?”

“Troll-sona! Like, it’s you, but not you. Like a whole different species, all grey skinned and horned. I’ll show you later,” he insisted.

“Er.. Okay. Look, you guys want a ride back to your buddies house?” I didn’t really want my brother running around all night, summer vacation or not.

“That’d be great!” Callie chirped.

Callie ended up in the passenger seat and the boys took up the back seat. They laughed at something on one of their phones while Callie directed me where to go. They didn’t live far, just down the road and in a subdivision that was like ours.

“Thanks,” she smiled, bailing out. Gamzee gave me a fist bump and waved, and the third little bastard didn’t even speak to me. The front door opened signifying they were inside. I was about to back out of the driveway when Callie came dashing back out, her horns off of her head.

“What?” I asked her out my window, the car in reverse but my foot on the break.

“Do you wanna stay the night too?” She asked, “it’s just Gamzee said how your dad can be sometimes. I realized you were probably out and about for a reason.”

I grinned at her. “Naw, that’s alright. Thanks, kid.”

I wanted to tell her thanks for keeping my brother out of trouble too, but I didn’t. I backed out after that, deciding I was relaxed enough to go back into the fray of my household. I needed to get on my computer, look up job offerings, build a resume, water my plants, bag some more pot. I ate another brownie on the way home for good measure.

I had a lot to get done before August. Might as well start now.

  


**Author's Note:**

> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhEaH0qZCmU&list=PLwBvGRZ4qTdmOi9kbPrs7kpc1bWhOUYt6&index=9
> 
>  
> 
> Some closing thoughts about this fic
> 
> I’ve worked on this a lot longer than I want to admit. I don’t know these characters well enough, and some of their information is kind of sparse. I ended up on a few websites looking at observations other people made. ( namely homestckfanfictionhelp on Tumblr. ) I’m still not happy with this fic.
> 
> The theme here is responsibility. They made a baby. It makes them both nervous and stressed. Kurloz realizes at the end he has a lot of growing up to do. I watched a family member do the same. You feel so old when you graduate, but two years after I have, I realized I was pretty naive. I wanted these two to reflect that.
> 
> I’d like to point out right away that there is nothing significant about their father yelling at them. Some parents are just that way. Their father is the Grand Highblood, who is angry and vengeful. I also took some traits from Gamzee’s lusus, who is also quite an angry species according to Jake. He reacted like any parent would when their kid tells them they got a girl pregnant.
> 
>  
> 
> So, down to the main characters.
> 
> Meulin is a really happy person. She rejects bad feelings, in Openbound, she denied the fact she didn’t like Meenah when they were alive. Meenah even tried to kill her in canon, but Meulin brushes it off. She rejects bad stuff, but I thought it was unrealistic to have a person that never feels bad.
> 
> Kurloz talked way too much for my taste in this fic.I didn’t find a lot about him besides he disliked Meenah. I tried to just make him a regular guy. I thought him and Gamzee made the perfect stoners, so Kurloz became the drug dealer.
> 
> Gamzee was fun to write. I like his speech patterns. Sober Gamzee might make an appearance later, but I liked in comic drugged Gamzee better.


End file.
